ISTANBUL

Belarus announced on Monday that it has officially been granted BRICS partner country status.

A statement from the Belarusian Foreign Ministry said a letter by President Alexander Lukashenko addressed to his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin was handed over by Foreign Minister Maxim Ryzhenkov to Moscow’s Ambassador to Minsk Boris Gryzlov.

Indicating that the letter on Minsk's readiness to join BRICS as a partner country is dated Nov. 5, the statement said the document was handed over to Gryzlov during a personal meeting with the Belarusian top diplomat.

“An official response to a written invitation is a mandatory element of the procedure agreed upon by member states to obtain partner status. It is from this moment that the country is officially considered a BRICS partner,” the statement said.

The statement further revealed the text of Lukashenko’s letter, in which he stated that BRICS has been steadily strengthening multilateral cooperation, becoming a pillar of multipolarity, since its formation.

“The spirit of mutual respect and equality, the attractiveness of its goals with inexorable logic lead to the expansion of BRICS,” the statement said, indicating that Lukashenko thanked Putin for his support and noted the formalization of Minsk’s participation in BRICS as a partner state during Russia’s presidency.

Among other things, the status of a BRICS partner country provides for permanent participation in special sessions of the bloc’s summits and foreign ministers’ meetings, it added.

The statement said partners can join the final documents of BRICS, thereby “expanding their geographical coverage and strengthening the voice of the association in international affairs.”

Initially founded in 2009 with Brazil, Russia, India, and China, the group formally welcomed South Africa in 2011, expanding its name to BRICS, reflecting the initials of its five members.

Last December, the bloc invited six more nations — Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).